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CEO Susan Goodell to leave Forgotten Harvest

Forgotten Harvest President and CEO Susan Goodell is leaving metro Detroit for the top job at a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.

Goodell will leave the Oak Park-based food rescue March 21 to be CEO of The Global Fund for Children.

Forgotten Harvest's board said it plans to launch a national search for a new president and CEO.

Goodell, 50, has led Forgotten Harvest for 13 years.

Under her leadership, Forgotten Harvest increased the amount of food the organization rescues each year from 1 million pounds to 45.5 million pounds last year.

In 2013, that food equated to more than 45 million meals delivered free of charge to 280 emergency food providers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

To increase the amount of food rescued, Goodell brokered agreements with grocery chains, a hydroponics greenhouse in Ontario, local farmers, national food manufacturers and wholesale food distributors, expanding Forgotten Harvest's reach beyond local caterers and restaurants.

Last year, Forgotten Harvest also launched its own farming operation to bring in additional produce.

Under Goodell's direction, the organization has become a national model for food rescue operations, with its fleet of GPS-equipped, refrigerated trucks and handheld food tracking system based on the same technology that United Parcel Service of America Inc. uses. Forgotten Harvest was able to apply the technology to food rescue with help from students at Kettering University in Flint and Lawrence Technological University in Southfield.

Today, Forgotten Harvest is the largest hunger relief organization in the state and largest food rescue in the world, Goodell said.

"I'm really proud of what this organization has been able to accomplish, (but) after 13 years, it's a good time for me, and it's a good time for Forgotten Harvest" for a change, she said.

Goodell said she hopes "to try and make a difference in the world on a broader stage."